Beer Fans Finally To Get A Peek At Grizzly Peak

Beer fans finally to get a peek at Grizzly Peak

By CATHARINE O'DONNELL

It’s taken long enough to make a grizzly bear groan, but now it’s actually, finally, really going to happen: Grizzly Peak Brewing Co. will open Sunday at 11 a.m. in downtown Ann Arbor.

Located where the The Old German restaurant used to be at 120 W. Washington St., Grizzly Peak will serve five handcrafted beers, an assortment of specialty beers, and a full lunch and dinner menu.

The handcrafted beers: Victors Golden Ale, Grizzly Peak Pale Ale, Steelhead Red, Bear Paw Porter and County Cork’s Irish Stout. The menu includes wild rice fritters, Cheddar and ale soup, spicy beer-steamed mussels, grilled swordfish with rosemary mayo.

Folks can watch suds being made, either while sipping in a corner or sauntering outside. Carlson put the brewhouse, including a large, copper-topped brew kettle, just next to the restaurant’s glass facade. There’s plenty of seating too, with room for some 240 thirsty drinkers at the 6,000-square-foot brewpub.

Jon Carlson, proprietor and a University of Michigan graduate, has partnered with Grand Rapids-based Schelde Enterprises, which owns eight Michigan restaurants - including the Grand Rapids Brewing Co.

Brewpub chef is Western Culinary Institute grad Paul Mawhinney. Gregory Burke and Ron Jeffries, both U-M grads, are head brewers.

Grizzly Peak has been three years getting born, and a difficult birth it’s been. First conceived by husband-and-wife team Barry Seifer and-Jennifer Kirscht, the brewpub was meant to open in the old Cracked Crab restaurant, just east of the current Grizzly Peak.

But then Seifer and Kirscht ran into problems getting the Michigan Legislature to approve brewpubs. The couple hired a lobbyist, who achieved success on the last day of the 1992 legislative session.

Seifer and Kirscht then got their building plans in gear, but in December 1993, Jennifer Kirscht died of breast cancer. In 1994, Seifer decided he’d had enough of the project and sold to Jon Carlson and his partners.